Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK’s short‑lived Chancellor who lasted only weeks in September 2022, is resurfacing as a prominent voice for bitcoin and long-term monetary thinking. In a wide‑ranging CoinDesk interview he revisited the infamous “mini‑budget,” conceding it was rushed: “The mini budget was literally two weeks after we took office, it was just very, very rushed business.” His tenure began on Sept. 6 and was immediately disrupted by the death of Queen Elizabeth II two days later, a compressed timetable that he says left little chance for proper coordination or scrutiny. The policy fallout was dramatic—gilt yields spiked and helped lay bare the UK’s Liability‑Driven Investment pension crisis.
Despite the political cost, Kwarteng defended the mini‑budget’s intent and used the episode to argue for deeper reform of Britain’s fiscal framework. He warned the country is trapped in a fiscal “doom loop” where “you’re spending more money than you can raise in taxation,” and cautioned that higher taxes can “kill incentives in the economy.” He also lambasted short‑termism in both politics and markets: “Everything’s quarterly driven, people are either euphoric or freaking out. And actually, you’ve got to take a longer view.”
That longer perspective has shifted his focus toward bitcoin and monetary history. While in office, Kwarteng said the Treasury and the Bank of England were aware of bitcoin and digital assets but that adoption in the UK remained “incredibly small.” He suggested Britain has been slower to embrace crypto innovation than some European peers, noting Paris is becoming “quite forward leaning on digital assets.” He also pushed back on critics such as former prime minister Boris Johnson, who had called bitcoin a “Ponzi,” urging a more open‑minded approach to emerging forms of money.
Kwarteng is now putting his views into practice as executive chairman of UK bitcoin treasury firm Stack BTC (STAK). The company holds 31 BTC on its balance sheet and has attracted notable political interest—Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has taken a roughly 6% stake in the business. For Kwarteng, the move symbolizes a break from reactive policymaking and a bet on what he believes could be a more resilient, long‑term monetary future anchored by new forms of money such as bitcoin.
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